Portugal

Out of the eight key variables studied, Portuguese students scored lower or in line with the ESPAD average on all of them. The most striking difference was apparent for heavy episodic drinking in the last 30 days, which was reported by only 20 % of the Portuguese students, compared to the ESPAD average of 35 %. Alcohol use in the last 30 days was also lower than the overall average (42 % versus 48 %). Lifetime use of inhalants and lifetime use of NPS were 3 percentage points below the overall average, which is a notable difference, at least in relative terms. Last-30-day cigarette use, lifetime use of inhalants, lifetime use of cannabis, lifetime use of illicit drugs other than cannabis and lifetime use of tranquillisers or sedatives without prescription were all roughly on the same level as the overall average. To conclude, Portuguese students tended to report substance use to a lower degree than students of the average ESPAD country.